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China's plan for Germany By Mark Anderson Elon does it again I first met Elon Musk when he flew up to my island with a question. He had a rather crazy idea, he said over lunch, and he wanted to know what I thought. What if he could build a rocket company with launch costs 10x cheaper than today? I said it was a great thought, and he'd have to put me on the advisory board. That idea became SpaceX, which this weekend became the first private company to send humans into space. This event, like many others orchestrated by Elon (see below), represents a pivotal moment in human history. It isn't just about cheaper space travel or private access to space. Rather, this week we were introduced to a new era that will define us, and what we know as "our world," for the rest of time. As of this flight, we have just entered that new phase in which, as Elon recently put it, rocket launches are as normal as trains. This flight has begun redefining our world in terms of time and space. In time: Launches will be numerous, and increasing in frequency. They will be happening often, in the thousands per year. In space: Going into orbit is about to be replaced by going to somewhere - the moon, Mars, and more - and those "somewheres" now provide an infinite lack of boundaries to the most personal, and human, definition of "our world." Thank you, Elon. What a wonderful achievement, by you and the SpaceX team. - mra
By Mark Anderson "You have done the best work to date on understanding the Chinese national business model." - US Department of Justice (then) Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, on SNS INVNT/IP and our publication "Theft Nation." Never let it be said that China doesn't have a plan. A very large number of China's - and the world's - plans and trends have come to a focused pivot in the last few months, accelerated by the (CCP-, Wuhan-) C-19 virus. In this week's issue, we will provide the landscape for this change, detail the motivations and other drivers, and provide a new view of current global economic affairs. More important, we will try to lay out the costs, for companies and countries, of getting this wrong. And while the outcome of this struggle may affect most of the globe, its resolution is, to a frightening degree, in the hands of a single person. |
